Apparatus and method for distributing three dimensional media content

ABSTRACT

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a process that includes obtaining three-dimensional image content having first and second images. The first and second images include first and second numbers of pixels. The first and second images are arranged according to a shared coordinate system to portray different perspectives of a common scene. A first portion of pixels are removed from the first image based on a filtering of the first image, resulting in a first remaining number of pixels. A second portion of pixels are removed from the second image based on positions of the first portion of pixels in the shared coordinate system, resulting in a second remaining number of pixels. The first remaining portion of pixels is combined with the second remaining portion of pixels to form a transport frame for delivery to a media processor. Other embodiments are disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/831,826 filed Jul. 7, 2010 by Pierre Costa etal., entitled “Apparatus and Method for Distributing Three DimensionalMedia Content.” All sections of the aforementioned application(s) areincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to media content communicationand more specifically to an apparatus and method for distributingthree-dimensional media content.

BACKGROUND

Media consumption has become a multibillion dollar industry thatcontinues to grow rapidly. High resolution displays are being introducedinto the marketplace that can now present movies and games withthree-dimensional perspective having clarity never seen before.

As the quality of the media content is improving, the bandwidthrequirements for consumers is increasing. Also, the load on networks totransport the media content is increasing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication system thatprovides media services;

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a portal interacting withthe communication system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication deviceutilized in the communication system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a presentation device andmedia processor for presenting media content;

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a viewing apparatus;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a presentation device witha polarized display;

FIGS. 7-9 depict illustrative embodiments of frames of media contentthat can be transported using the system and devices of FIGS. 1-6;

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a method operating inportions of the devices and systems of FIGS. 1-6 using the media contentof FIGS. 7-9; and

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions, when executed, maycause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One embodiment of the present disclosure can entail a server having acontroller to receive three-dimensional (3D) image content that has aplurality of left eye frames and a plurality of right eye frames. Eachleft eye frame of the plurality of left eye frames can have a firstimage that corresponds with a second image of a right eye frame of theplurality of right eye frames, and the corresponding first and secondimages can be at different perspectives. The controller can be operableto remove a portion of pixels from each left eye frame and from thecorresponding right eye frame and combine remaining pixels from eachleft eye frame of the plurality of left eye frames with remaining pixelsfrom the corresponding right eye frame of the plurality of right eyeframes, The combined remaining pixels can form a plurality of transportframes, and can form an alternating pattern of pixels based on eitheralternating rows of pixels or alternating columns of pixels from eachleft eye frame and the corresponding right eye frame. The controller canalso be operable to encode the plurality of transport frames andtransmit the encoded plurality of transport frames over an InternetProtocol Television network for decoding by a media processor into the3D image content.

One embodiment of the present disclosure can entail a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium operating in a media processor, wherethe storage medium includes computer instructions to receive a pluralityof transport frames and generate a left eye frame and a right eye framefrom each of the plurality of transport frames. The left eye frame canbe generated from first alternating rows of pixels or first alternatingcolumns of pixels of each of the plurality of transport frames. Theright eye frame can be generated from second alternating rows of pixelsor second alternating columns of pixels of each of the plurality oftransport frames. The computer instructions can also include presentingthree-dimensional content on a display device using the generated leftand right eye frames.

One embodiment of the present disclosure can entail a method includingobtaining 3D image content having a plurality of left eye frames and aplurality of right eye frames. The method can also include interleavingpixels from each left eye frame of the plurality of left eye frames withpixels from the corresponding right eye frame of the plurality of righteye frames in an alternating fashion to form a plurality of transportframes for delivery to a media processor.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a first communicationsystem 100 for delivering media content. The communication system 100can represent an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) broadcast mediasystem, although other media broadcast systems are contemplated by thepresent disclosures. The IPTV media system can include a super head-endoffice (SHO) 110 with at least one super headend office server (SHS) 111which receives media content from satellite and/or terrestrialcommunication systems. In the present context, media content canrepresent audio content, moving image content such as videos, stillimage content, or combinations thereof. The SHS server 111 can forwardpackets associated with the media content to video head-end servers(VHS) 114 via a network of video head-end offices (VHO) 112 according toa common multicast communication protocol.

The VHS 114 can distribute multimedia broadcast programs via an accessnetwork 118 to commercial and/or residential buildings 102 housing agateway 104 (such as a residential or commercial gateway). The accessnetwork 118 can represent a group of digital subscriber line accessmultiplexers (DSLAMs) located in a central office or a service areainterface that provides broadband services over optical links or coppertwisted pairs 119 to buildings 102. The gateway 104 can use commoncommunication technology to distribute broadcast signals to mediaprocessors 106 such as Set-Top Boxes (STBs) or gaming consoles, which inturn present broadcast channels to media devices 108 such as computers,television sets, managed in some instances by a media controller 107(such as an infrared or RF remote control, gaming controller, etc.).

The gateway 104, the media processors 106, and media devices 108 canutilize tethered interface technologies (such as coaxial, phone line, orpowerline wiring) or can operate over a common wireless access protocolsuch as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi). With these interfaces, unicastcommunications can be invoked between the media processors 106 andsubsystems of the IPTV media system for services such as video-on-demand(VoD), browsing an electronic programming guide (EPG), or otherinfrastructure services. The present disclosure also contemplatesdelivery of media content to a plurality of display devices withoutusing set top boxes. For instance, the gateway 104 can receive mediacontent in various formats and convert the media content into a formatthat is compatible with the display devices, such as the Digital LivingNetwork Alliance standard.

Some of the network elements of the IPTV media system can be coupled toone or more computing devices 130. The computing devices 130, or aportion thereof, can operate as a web server for providing portalservices over an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network 132 to wirelinemedia devices 108 or wireless communication devices 116 (e.g., cellularphone, laptop computer, etc.) by way of a wireless access base station117. The base station 117 can operate according to common wirelessaccess protocols such as WiFi, or cellular communication technologies(such as GSM, CDMA, UMTS, WiMAX, Software Defined Radio or SDR, and soon).

A satellite broadcast television system can be used in place of, or inaddition to, the IPTV media system. In this embodiment, signalstransmitted by a satellite 115 carrying media content can be interceptedby a common satellite dish receiver 131 coupled to the building 102.Modulated signals intercepted by the satellite dish receiver 131 can betransferred to the media processors 106 for decoding and distributingbroadcast channels to the media devices 108. The media processors 106can be equipped with a broadband port to the ISP network 132 to enableservices such as VoD and EPG described above.

In yet another embodiment, an analog or digital broadcast distributionsystem such as cable TV system 133 can be used in place of, or inaddition to, the IPTV media system described above. In this embodimentthe cable TV system 133 can provide Internet, telephony, and interactivemedia services.

It is contemplated that the present disclosure can apply to any presentor next generation over-the-air and/or landline media content servicessystem. In one embodiment, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networkarchitecture can be utilized to facilitate the combined services ofcircuit-switched and packet-switched systems in delivering the mediacontent to one or more viewers.

The computing devices 130 can include a controller 175 for pre-encoding3D image content prior to delivery to the gateway 104 and/or mediaprocessors 106. For instance, the computing devices 130 can applypre-compression geometric re-arranging of pixels in the frames that makeup the 3D content in order to increase the pixel-to-pixel correlation.By increasing the pixel correlation, standard spatial frequencytransform methods (e.g., H.264 protocol) can yield more efficientcompression. Additional compression gains may be accomplished sincethere is no hard discontinuity in the middle of the frame. In oneembodiment, the removal or reduction of discontinuity in the frame canfacilitate tracking macroblocks for motion-based algorithms.

In one embodiment, the computing devices 130 can receive left and righteye pairs of the 3D content and can combine the pairs into single framesfor compression and transport. For example, portions of the pixels ineach of the pairs can be removed, such as alternating rows oralternating columns, and then the resulting frame can be generated byproviding the frame with rows of pixels or columns of pixels that areselected from the left and right eye pairs in an alternating fashion. Inone embodiment, the resulting content can be encoded to generate aplurality of transport frames, which can be delivered to the mediaprocessors 106 in a single stream.

The 3D image content can be in various forms, including still images,moving images and video games. The computing devices can receive orotherwise obtain the 3D content in a number of different ways, includingvia broadcast.

In another embodiment the pre-encoding can be performed by the computingdevices 130 in real-time. The 3D image content can be presented by themedia processor 106 and the display device 108 using various techniquesincluding polarization, anaglyphics, active shuttering (such asalternate frame sequencing), autostereoscopy, and so forth.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative embodiment 200 of a portal 202 which canoperate from the computing devices 130 described earlier ofcommunication system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. The portal 202 can beused for managing services of communication system 100. The portal 202can be accessed by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) with a commonInternet browser using an Internet-capable communication device such asthose illustrated FIG. 1. The portal 202 can be configured, for example,to access a media processor 106 and services managed thereby such as aDigital Video Recorder (DVR), a VoD catalog, an EPG, a video gamingprofile, a personal catalog (such as personal videos, pictures, audiorecordings, etc.) stored in the media processor, to provision IMSservices described earlier, to provision Internet services, provisioningcellular phone services, and so on.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a communication device 300.Communication device 300 can serve in whole or in part as anillustrative embodiment of the communication devices of FIG. 1 and othercommunication devices described herein. The communication device 300 cancomprise a wireline and/or wireless transceiver 302 (herein transceiver302), a user interface (UI) 304, a power supply 314, a location detector316, and a controller 306 for managing operations thereof. Thetransceiver 302 can support short-range or long-range wireless accesstechnologies such as infrared, Bluetooth, WiFi, Digital EnhancedCordless Telecommunications (DECT), or cellular communicationtechnologies, just to mention a few. Cellular technologies can include,for example, CDMA-1X, UMTS/HSDPA, GSM/GPRS, TDMA/EDGE, EV/DO, WiMAX,SDR, and next generation cellular wireless communication technologies asthey arise. The transceiver 302 can also be adapted to supportcircuit-switched wireline access technologies (such as PSTN),packet-switched wireline access technologies (such as TCPIP, VoIP,etc.), and combinations thereof.

The UI 304 can include a depressible or touch-sensitive keypad 308 witha navigation mechanism such as a roller ball, joystick, mouse, ornavigation disk for manipulating operations of the communication device300. The keypad 308 can be an integral part of a housing assembly of thecommunication device 300 or an independent device operably coupledthereto by a tethered wireline interface (such as a USB cable) or awireless interface supporting for example Bluetooth. The keypad 308 canrepresent a numeric dialing keypad commonly used by phones, and/or aQwerty keypad with alphanumeric keys. The UI 304 can further include adisplay 310 such as monochrome or color LCD (Liquid Crystal Display),OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) or other suitable display technologyfor conveying images to an end user of the communication device 300. Inan embodiment where the display 310 is touch-sensitive, a portion or allof the keypad 308 can be presented by way of the display 310.

The UI 304 can also include an audio system 312 that utilizes commonaudio technology for conveying low volume audio (such as audio heardonly in the proximity of a human ear) and high volume audio for handsfree operation. The audio system 312 can further include a microphonefor receiving audible signals from an end user. The audio system 312 canalso be used for voice recognition applications. The UI 304 can furtherinclude an image sensor 313 such as a charged coupled device (CCD)camera for capturing still or moving images.

The power supply 314 can utilize common power management technologiessuch as replaceable and rechargeable batteries, supply regulationtechnologies, and charging system technologies for supplying energy tothe components of the communication device 300 to facilitate long-rangeor short-range portable applications. The location detector 316 canutilize common location technology such as a global positioning system(GPS) receiver for identifying a location of the communication device300 based on signals generated by a constellation of GPS satellites,thereby facilitating common location services such as navigation.

The communication device 300 can use the transceiver 302 to alsodetermine a proximity to a cellular, WiFi or Bluetooth access point bycommon power sensing techniques such as utilizing a received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) and/or a signal time of arrival (TOA) or timeof flight (TOF). The controller 306 can utilize computing technologiessuch as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and/or avideo processor with associated storage memory such as Flash, ROM, RAM,SRAM, DRAM or other storage technologies.

The communication device 300 can be adapted to perform the functions ofthe media processor 106, the media devices 108, or the portablecommunication devices 116 of FIG. 1, as well as IMS CDs and PSTN CDs. Itwill be appreciated that the communication device 300 can also representother common devices that can operate in communication system 100 ofFIG. 1 such as a gaming console and a media player.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative embodiment 400 of a presentation device402 and a media processor 106 for presenting media content. In thepresent illustration, the presentation device 402 is depicted as atelevision set. It will be appreciated that the presentation device 402alternatively can represent a portable communication device such as acellular phone, a PDA, a computer, or other computing device with theability to display media content. The media processor 106 can be an STBsuch as illustrated in FIG. 1, or some other computing device such as acellular phone, computer, gaming console, or other device that canprocess and direct the presentation device 402 to emit images associatedwith media content. It is further noted that the media processor 106 andthe presentation device 402 can be an integral unit. For example, acomputer or cellular phone having computing and display resourcescollectively can represent the combination of a presentation device 402and media processor 106.

The media processor 106 can be adapted to communicate with accessoriessuch as the viewing apparatus 502 of the illustrative embodiment 500depicted in FIG. 5 by way of a wired or wireless interface, includingthrough use of signals 406 from the media processor 106. Thecommunication can be one-way and/or two-way communication, such asproviding the viewing apparatus 502 with a transceiver. A wiredinterface can represent a tethered connection from the viewing apparatusto an electro-mechanical port of the media processor 106 (e.g., USB orproprietary interface). A wireless interface can represent a radiofrequency (RF) interface such as Bluetooth, WiFi, Zigbee or otherwireless standard. The wireless interface can also represent an infraredcommunication interface. Any standard or proprietary wireless interfacebetween the media processor 106 and the viewing apparatus 502 iscontemplated by the presented disclosure.

The viewing apparatus 502 can represent an apparatus for viewingtwo-dimensional (2D) or 3D stereoscopic images which can be still ormoving images. The viewing apparatus 502 can be an active shutterviewing apparatus. In this embodiment, each lens has a liquid crystallayer which can be darkened or made to be transparent by the applicationof one or more bias voltages. Each lens 504, 506 can be independentlycontrolled. Accordingly, the darkening of the lenses 504, 506 canalternate, or can be controlled to operate simultaneously.

Each viewing apparatus 502 can include all or portions of the componentsof the communication device 300 illustrated in FIG. 3. For example, theviewing apparatus 502 can utilize the receiver portion of thetransceiver 302 in the form of an infrared receiver depicted by thewindow 508. Alternatively, the viewing apparatus 502 can function as atwo-way communication device, in which case a full infrared transceivercould be utilized to exchange signals between the media processor 106and the viewing apparatus 502.

The viewing apparatus 502 can utilize a controller 306 to controloperations thereof, and a portable power supply (not shown). The viewingapparatus 502 can have portions of the UI 304 of FIG. 3. For example,the viewing apparatus 502 can have a multi-purpose button 512 which canfunction as a power on/off button and as a channel selection button. Apower on/off feature can be implemented by a long-duration depression ofbutton 512 which can toggle from an on state to an off state andvice-versa. Fast depressions of button 512 can be used for channelnavigation. Alternatively, two buttons can be added to the viewingapparatus 502 for up/down channel selection, which operate independentof the on/off power button 512. In another embodiment, a thumbwheel canbe used for scrolling between channels.

The viewing apparatus 502 can also include an audio system 312 with oneor more speakers in the extensions of the housing assembly such as shownby references 516, 520 to produce localized audio 518, 520 near a user'sears. Different portions of the housing assembly can be used to producemono, stereo, or surround sound effects. Ear cups (not shown) such asthose used in headphones can be used by the viewing apparatus 502 (as anaccessory or integral component) for a more direct and low-noise audiopresentation technique. The volume of sound presented by the speakers514, 516 can be controlled by a thumbwheel 510 (or up/down buttons—notshown).

It would be evident from the above descriptions that many embodiments ofthe viewing apparatus 502 are possible, all of which are contemplated bythe present disclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative embodiment 600 of the presentation device402 of FIG. 4 with a polarized display. A display can be polarized withwell-known polarization filter technology so that alternative horizontalpixel rows can be made to have differing polarizations. For instance,odd horizontal pixels 602 can be polarized for viewing with onepolarization filter, while even horizontal pixels 604 can be polarizedfor viewing with an alternative polarization filter. The polarizationcan be based on other pixel patters, such as vertical pixel columns andso forth. The viewing apparatus 502 previously described can be adaptedto have one lens polarized for odd pixel rows, while the other lens ispolarized for viewing even pixel rows. With polarized lenses, theviewing apparatus 502 can present a user a 3D stereoscopic image.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a pair of left and righteye frames 710, 720 of 3D image content 700. There is only minimaldifference between the images depicted in the two frames 710, 720 sincethe cameras producing the two frames are focused on the same scene andare separated by only a few inches. In one exemplary embodiment,selected columns of pixels from left eye frame 710 can be interspersedin an alternating fashion with selected columns of pixels from right eyeframe 720 (e.g., horizontal interlacing) such that every alternatecolumn belongs to frame 710 or frame 720, creating a single, continuousframe 750 with characteristics of both the left and right eye frames.The resulting image frame 750 can have higher pixel-to-pixel correlationas compared to side-to-side compression in which a resulting frameincludes both frames side-to-side after being compressed.

Referring to the pixel arrangements 800 and 900 of FIGS. 8 and 9, oneexemplary embodiment of the pixel recombination algorithm is described.In the following embodiment, Lo and Ro are the original, full resolutionLeft and Right eye frames. Ls and Rs are the filtered, re-sampledhalf-resolution left and right eye frames. The pixel arrangement 800 isthe full-frame resolution pixel arrangement for Lo and Ro and depictsthe pixel elements where the Y-axis is rows 1-M and the X-axis iscolumns 1-N. The pixel arrangement 900 is the half-frame pixelarrangement for Ls and Rs where (XLi, YLj) is the pixel element (i,j) ofhalf-frame Ls and (XRi, YRj) is the pixel element (i,j) of thehalf-frame Rs, where i is (1-n) and j is (1-m), and where n is (N/2) andm is M. For example, N=1920 and M=1080 for 1080i and 1080P formats orN=1280 and M=720 for 720P format.

The combined frame can be assembled as a matrix of elements as shown inthe interleaving pixel arrangement of Ls and Rs frames of Table 1:

COL1 (XR1, YR1), . . . (XR1, YRm − 1), (XR1, YR2), (XR1, YRm) COL2 (XL1,YL1), . . . (XL1, YLm − 1), (XL1, YL2), (Yl, YLm) COL3 (XR2, YR1), . . .(XR2, YRm − 1), (XR2, YR2), (XR2, YRm) | | | | COL [n − 1] (XRn − 1,YR1), . . . (XRn − 1, YRm − 1), (XRn − 1, YR2), (XRn − 1, YRm) COL [n](XRn, YR1), (XRn, YR2), . . . (XRn, YRm − 1), (XRn, YRn)

In this embodiment, each alternate column of Table 1 belongs to adifferent re-sampled frame (Rs or Ls) corresponding to a horizontalinterlacing. In a side-side decoding mechanism, reconstruction of theside-side image at the decoder (e.g., a 3DTV or an STB) can be performedby reversing the process and recreating the two frames (Ro or Lo).

The recombining algorithm provides for efficient digital computation(e.g., integer arithmetic). In one embodiment, the recombining algorithmcan be incorporated into a field programmable gate array, such as in a3DTV or STB.

In one embodiment the exemplary methods described herein can be utilizedwith any pixel packing technique that separates left and right eyeframes (or images) into separate panels (side-side, top-bottom, and soforth). For example, the exemplary methods can create a single imagewith extended edges creating an overall image whose pixels are moreclosely correlated and will produce improved compression gains whenencoded.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a method 1000 operating inportions of the devices and systems described herein and/or illustratedin FIGS. 1-9. Method 1000 can begin with step 1002 in which mediacontent is received by computing devices 130. In step 1004, thecomputing devices 130 can determine whether the media content is 3Dcontent or 2D content. If the content is 2D content then the computingdevices 130 in step 1005 can encode the 2D content and transmit themedia content in step 1012.

If on the other hand, the media content is 3D content then in step 1006selected portions of pixels from each of the left and right eye framescan be removed. The portions of pixels that are removed can be based ona number of factors and can be in a number of different patterns. Forinstance, one or more rows and/or columns of pixels can be removed fromeach of the left and right eye pairs. In another embodiment, alternatingrows and/or alternating columns of pixels can be removed from each ofthe left and right eye pairs. In yet another embodiment, the removals ofthe portion of pixels can be based on either or both of previous andsubsequent pairs of frames. The removal of a portion of the pixels canbe based on filtering and re-sampling techniques, including along thehorizontal, vertical and/or diagonal directions.

In one embodiment, the filtering and re-sampling can be applied equallyto both the left and right eye frame pairs. For instance, the filteringand re-sampling can be applied to the left eye frame to determine whichpixels are to be removed. Rather than re-applying filtering andre-sampling to the corresponding right eye frame, in one exemplaryembodiment, the computing devices 130 can remove the same pixels (e.g.,based on a position of the pixels within a shared coordinate system ofthe frame pairs) from the right eye frame. The present disclosure alsocontemplates removal of different pixels from the left and right eyeframe pairs. For instance, the filtering and re-sampling can be appliedequally to a portion of each of the left and right eye frames, such as acenter region of the frames, but can be unequally applied along theouter regions of the frames.

In one embodiment, the filtering and re-sampling can be applied toreduce the left and right eye frames to half-resolution so that the leftand right eye frames can be combined into the single transport frame. Inanother embodiment, the filtering and re-sampling can be applied toobtain other resolutions for the left and right eye frames. For example,first and second sets of left and right eye pairs can be filtered andre-sampled to quarter-resolution frames. All four frames can then becombined into the single transport frame, such as by having the columnsor rows of pixels in the transport frame selected from each of theframes in a four-way alternating fashion, such as a pixel columnarrangement in the transport frame of1L₁1R₁2L₁2R₁1L₂1R₂2L₂2R₂1L₃1R₃2L₃2R₃ . . . , where 1L and 1R are thefirst left and right eye frame pair and 2L and 2R are the second leftand right eye frame pair, and where the subscript is the column numberin the first and second eye frame pairs.

In step 1008, the remaining pixels for each left and right eye pair canbe combined into single frames. The plurality of single frames, whicheach include the remaining pixels from the corresponding left and righteye pairs of frames, can then be encoded in step 1010. The particulartransport encoding can vary. For example, compression techniques, suchas MPEG2, MPEG4-AVC, or other coding methods that use frequencytransforms (e.g., discrete cosine transform and others), can be appliedto the plurality of frames. In one embodiment, the compressiontechniques can include those which allow for the resulting coefficientsto be quantized based on quasi polynomial factor and rate controlalgorithms, as well as motion compensation.

Once encoded, the plurality of frames can be transmitted to the mediaprocessor for display of the 3D content on a display device. Thetransmission can be based on multicast, unicast and/or broadcast.

In one embodiment, if the display device is incapable of presenting 3Dcontent then each of the plurality of frames can be processed by themedia processor 106 to remove either the left or right eye pixels fromthe single frame. Interpolation or other imaging techniques can beutilized to generate and replace the removed pixels.

If on the other hand the display device is capable of presenting the 3Dcontent and such a presentation is desired then the media processor 106(such as the STB's) can generate the 3D content based on the left andright eye pixels in each of the single frames that can be utilized forgenerating left and right eye frame pairs. In one embodiment, thetechniques used to remove select portions of pixels during the filteringand re-sampling process can also be utilized by the media processor 106to add pixels to each of the left and right eye frame pairs. Variousother techniques are contemplated for adding pixels to the left andright eye frame pairs, including interpolation based on previous and orsubsequent pairs of frames, as well as based on other pixels within thesame left and right eye frames.

The left and right eye frame pairs can then be sequentially presented atthe display device and viewed utilizing active shutter glasses. Inanother embodiment, the left and right pairings can be combined butoppositely polarized and viewed utilizing polarized glasses. Theexemplary embodiments contemplate other techniques for generating thethree-dimensional content from the two-dimensional content and the depthmap. The particular methodology employed to provide or render thethree-dimensional image content can vary and can include active shutter(alternate frame sequencing), polarization and other techniques. Themedia content map can be received by the media processor from varioussources, such as via a broadcast over an IPTV network, cable, DBS and soforth.

The exemplary embodiments contemplate a viewing apparatus (such asactive shutter glasses or passive polarization glasses) being detectedthrough various means. The detection can be performed by the mediaprocessor, although other devices can also be utilized for this purposeas well. The detection can be based upon a number of thresholds,including recognizing that a viewer is wearing the viewing apparatus;detecting that the viewing apparatus is in a line of sight with adisplay device upon which the media content is or will be displayed; anddetermining that the viewing apparatus is within a pre-determineddistance of the display device. The techniques and components utilizedfor detecting the viewing apparatus can vary. For example, the mediaprocessor can scan for the presence of the viewing apparatus. This caninclude two-way communication between the media processor and theviewing apparatus. In one embodiment, the viewing apparatus can emit asignal which is detected by the media processor. Presence and/ordistance can be determined based on the signal, including utilizingsignal strength. Location techniques can also be used for determining aposition of the viewing apparatus, including triangulation and so forth.

Upon reviewing the aforementioned embodiments, it would be evident to anartisan with ordinary skill in the art that said embodiments can bemodified, reduced, or enhanced without departing from the scope andspirit of the claims described below. The embodiments described abovecan be adapted to operate with any device capable of performing in wholeor in part the steps described for method 800. For example, a cellularphone can be adapted to receive the plurality of transport frames andgenerate left and right eye frame pairs therefrom for presentation of 3Dcontent.

In one embodiment, different frames or groups of frames can be subjectedto different pre-encoding processes. For instance, one or more firstpairs of frames can be combined using column interleaving where theresulting frame is arranged in pixel columns that are selected from theleft and right eye pairs in an alternating fashion, while one or moresecond pairs of frames can be combined using row interleaving where theresulting frame is arranged in pixel columns that are selected from theleft and right eye pairs in an alternating fashion.

In another embodiment, the alternating pattern of pixels can benon-uniform. For instance, the center area of the resulting frame canhave a uniform pattern of alternating pixels selected from the left andright eye pairs where as one or more edges of the resulting frame canhave a non-uniform pattern, such as having a series of columns or aseries of rows selected from either the left eye frame or the right eyeframe.

In another embodiment, the filtering and re-sampling of pixels toproduce the left eye and right eye half-frames or other lower resolutionversions of the left and right eye frames can be performed on selectedportions of the left and right eye frames. For instance, a greaternumber of pixels can be removed near the outer regions of the left andright eye frames while maintaining more pixels in the center region ofthe left and right eye frames.

Other suitable modifications can be applied to the present disclosurewithout departing from the scope of the claims below. Accordingly, thereader is directed to the claims section for a fuller understanding ofthe breadth and scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary diagrammatic representation of a machine inthe form of a computer system 1100 within which a set of instructions,when executed, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed above. In some embodiments, the machine operatesas a standalone device. In some embodiments, the machine may beconnected (e.g., using a network) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient user machine in server-client user network environment, or as apeer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The machine may comprise a server computer, a client user computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a desktopcomputer, a control system, a network router, switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. It will beunderstood that a device of the present disclosure includes broadly anyelectronic device that provides voice, video or data communication.Further, while a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The computer system 1100 may include a processor 1102 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU, or both), a mainmemory 1104 and a static memory 1106, which communicate with each othervia a bus 1108. The computer system 1100 may further include a videodisplay unit 1110 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a flat panel, asolid state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system1100 may include an input device 1112 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursorcontrol device 1114 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 1116, a signalgeneration device 1118 (e.g., a speaker or remote control) and a networkinterface device 1120.

The disk drive unit 1116 may include a machine-readable medium 1122 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 1124)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein, including those methods illustrated above. The instructions 1124may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the mainmemory 1104, the static memory 1106, and/or within the processor 1102during execution thereof by the computer system 1100. The main memory1104 and the processor 1102 also may constitute machine-readable media.

Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to,application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays andother hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement themethods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatusand systems of various embodiments broadly include a variety ofelectronic and computer systems. Some embodiments implement functions intwo or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices withrelated control and data signals communicated between and through themodules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit.Thus, the example system is applicable to software, firmware, andhardware implementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, themethods described herein are intended for operation as software programsrunning on a computer processor. Furthermore, software implementationscan include, but not limited to, distributed processing orcomponent/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtualmachine processing can also be constructed to implement the methodsdescribed herein.

The present disclosure contemplates a machine readable medium containinginstructions 1124, or that which receives and executes instructions 1124from a propagated signal so that a device connected to a networkenvironment 1126 can send or receive voice, video or data, and tocommunicate over the network 1126 using the instructions 1124. Theinstructions 1124 may further be transmitted or received over a network1126 via the network interface device 1120.

While the machine-readable medium 1122 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by themachine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of the present disclosure.

The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken toinclude, but not be limited to: solid-state memories such as a memorycard or other package that houses one or more read-only (non-volatile)memories, random access memories, or other re-writable (volatile)memories; magneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk or tape;and/or a digital file attachment to e-mail or other self-containedinformation archive or set of archives is considered a distributionmedium equivalent to a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, thedisclosure is considered to include any one or more of amachine-readable medium or a distribution medium, as listed herein andincluding art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which thesoftware implementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodicallysuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents.

The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments,and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all theelements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use ofthe structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparentto those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Otherembodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structuraland logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing fromthe scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representationaland may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may beexaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense.

Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred toherein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merelyfor convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope ofthis application to any single invention or inventive concept if morethan one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments havebeen illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided with the understanding thatit will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of theclaims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can beseen that various features are grouped together in a single embodimentfor the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method ofdisclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that theclaimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited ineach claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subjectmatter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment.Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the DetailedDescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimedsubject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, comprising: a memory that storesexecutable instructions; and a processing system including a processorcoupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions,the processing system facilitates performance of operations comprising:receiving three-dimensional image content comprising a left-eye frameand a right-eye frame, wherein the left-eye frame comprises a firstimage comprising a first plurality of pixels and the right-eye framecomprises a second image comprising a second plurality of pixels,wherein the first image and the second image portray differentperspectives of a common scene collectively forming a pair of images ofthe common scene; arranging the first plurality of pixels of the firstimage and the second plurality of pixels of the second image accordingto a shared coordinate system; generating a first remaining portion ofpixels of the first plurality of pixels of the first image by filteringof the first image to remove a first portion of pixels of the firstplurality of pixels of the first image to obtain a first removed portionof pixels of the first image; generating a second remaining portion ofpixels of the second plurality of pixels of the second image by removinga second portion of pixels of the second plurality of pixels from thesecond image based on positions of pixels of the first removed portionof pixels of the first image based on the shared coordinate system; andforming a transport frame by combining the first remaining portion ofpixels and the second remaining portion of pixels, wherein the transportframe has a lower resolution than either of the left-eye or right-eyeframes.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the filtering of the firstimage comprises removing a column of pixels of the first plurality ofpixels according to the shared coordinate system.
 3. The device of claim1, wherein the filtering of the first image comprises removing a row ofpixels of the first plurality of pixels according to the sharedcoordinate system.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise encoding the transport frame using a frequencytransform.
 5. The device of claim 1, wherein the removing of the firstportion of pixels of the first plurality of pixels comprisesre-sampling.
 6. The device of claim 1, wherein the removing of the firstportion of pixels of the first plurality of pixels comprises removing afirst sub-portion of pixels of the first plurality of pixels from acenter portion of the first image according to a uniform pattern andwherein the removing of the second portion of pixels comprises removinga second sub-portion of pixels of the first plurality of pixels from anouter portion of the first image according to a non-uniform pattern. 7.The device of claim 1, wherein the transport frame comprises analternating pattern of pixels in an interleaving pattern based on one ofalternating rows of pixels or alternating columns of pixels from theleft-eye frame and the right-eye frame.
 8. A non-transitorymachine-readable storage device, comprising executable instructionsthat, when executed by a processing system including a processor,facilitate performance of operations comprising: receiving image contentcomprising a first image comprising a first plurality of pixels and asecond image comprising a second plurality of pixels, wherein the firstimage and the second image portray different perspectives of a commonscene collectively forming a pair of images of the common scene, andwherein the first plurality of pixels of the first image and the secondplurality of pixels of the second image are arranged according to acommon coordinate system; removing a first portion of pixels the firstplurality of pixels from the first image based on a filtering of thefirst image to obtain a first removed plurality of pixels, resulting ina first remaining portion of pixels; removing a second portion of pixelsthe second plurality of pixels from the second image based on positionsof pixels of the first removed plurality of pixels in the of the firstimage based on the common coordinate system, resulting in a secondremaining portion of pixels; and forming a transport frame by combiningthe first remaining portion of pixels and the second remaining portionof pixels in an interleaving pattern, wherein the transport frame has alower resolution than either of the first image or the second image. 9.The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 8, whereinthe operations further comprise encoding the transport frame based on afrequency transform.
 10. The non-transitory machine-readable storagedevice of claim 8, wherein the filtering of the first image comprisesremoving one of a column of pixels of the first plurality of pixels or arow of pixels of the first plurality of pixels according to the commoncoordinate system.
 11. The non-transitory machine-readable storagedevice of claim 8, wherein the removing of the first portion of pixelsof the first plurality of pixels comprises re-sampling.
 12. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 8, wherein theremoving of the first portion of pixels of the first plurality of pixelscomprises removing a first sub-portion of pixels of the first pluralityof pixels from a center portion of the first image according to auniform pattern and wherein the removing of the second portion of pixelscomprises removing a second sub-portion of pixels of the first pluralityof pixels from an outer portion of the first image according to anon-uniform pattern.
 13. The non-transitory machine-readable storagedevice of claim 8, wherein the transport frame comprises an alternatingpattern of pixels based on one of alternating rows of pixels oralternating columns of pixels from the first image and the second image.14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 13,wherein one of a first alternating row and a second alternating row ofthe one of the alternating rows of pixels or the alternating columns ofpixels are adjacent to each other or a first alternating column and asecond alternating column of the one of the alternating rows of pixelsor the alternating columns of pixels are adjacent to each other.
 15. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 8, wherein theremoving of the first portion of pixels of the first plurality of pixelscomprises removing a first sub-portion of pixels of the first pluralityof pixels from a center portion of the first image according to auniform pattern and removing a second sub-portion of pixels of the firstplurality of pixels from an outer portion of the first image accordingto a non-uniform pattern.
 16. A method comprising: obtaining, by aprocessing system including a processor, three-dimensional image contentcomprising a first image comprising a first plurality of pixels and asecond image comprising a second plurality of pixels, wherein the firstimage and the second image are arranged according to a shared coordinatesystem to portray different perspectives of a common scene and forming apair of images of the common scene; removing, by the processing system,a first portion of pixels of the first plurality of pixels of the firstimage based on a filtering of the first image to obtain a first removedportion of pixels of the first image, resulting in a first remainingportion of pixels of the first plurality of pixels; removing, by theprocessing system, a second portion of pixels of the second plurality ofpixels from the second image based on positions of pixels the firstremoved portion of pixels of the first image based on the sharedcoordinate system, resulting in a second remaining portion of pixels ofthe second plurality of pixels; and forming, by the processing system, atransport frame having a lower resolution than either of the pair ofimages for delivery to a media processor by combining the firstremaining portion of pixels with the second remaining portion of pixelsin an interleaving pattern.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein thetransport frame is one of a plurality of transport frames ofthree-dimensional video content.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein thefiltering of a center portion of the first image is different than thefiltering of an outer portion of the first image.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein the filtering is applied equally to the center portionof the first image and unequally to the outer portion of the firstimage.
 20. The method of claim 16, wherein the removing of the firstportion of pixels of the first plurality of pixels comprisesre-sampling.